>> good morning. it is tuesday, october 30, 2012. welcome to cbs "this morning." welcome to "cbs this morning." super storm sandy leads a path of destruction. the death toll continues to rise. billions in damages. and millions remain without power. >> officials say it could take weeks to recover from the mid atlantic to the midwest. and it is not over yet. >> new jersey governor chris christie with us. our john miller is live in the nypd emergency command center. >> we begin this morning with a look at today's eye opener your world in 90 seconds. >> we knew this would be a great

dangerous storm and the storm met our expectations. >> new york city is under sea right now. >> storm of the century. >> sandy slams into the northeast leaving millions ofle without power. at least 16 people dead. >> damage estimates are in the billions up and down the east coast. water rushing into the battery tunnel as well as lower manhattan. >> massive fire already decide dozens of homes in queens. >> nyu hospital forced to evacuate. everybody is rolling up their leaves and pitching in. >> land city the storm wiping out a huge section of the historic boardwalk. >> a giant crane snapped. that's a crane that's still dangles over streets of new york city. >> facade after building crashed into a street. >> oh, my gosh. we can set up offices inside a restaurant. police officer came by and told us we had to get out of there. after that the building collapsed into the sea. thanks for that. >> you're welcome.

>> one crew member is still missing. >> super storm is not just bringing rain dumping up to three feet of snow in seven states. west virginia bearing the brunt of it. >> it is a travel nightmare all up and down the east coast. airports closed. >> are we going to be able to go home? >> you heard from a mayor that said a number of people haven't left. that worries us. >> wearing a horse mask a jogger. i'm not quite sure what that is all about. >> i was conceived during hurricane hazel. did you know that? >> tmi. >> hope fly your thoughts and prayers think about the folks in harm's day we will get through this. >> on "cbs this morning." >> we felt like we would be putting the audience at n jeopardy if they had to sit through this show. i said hell we have been doing that through 30 years. 30 years! captioning funded by cbs

>> welcome inform "cbs this morning." much of the east coast is waking up to see devastation of super stormy sandy. massive storm blamed for at least 16 deaths in the united states and canada. at least 7.3 million utility customers lost power in 16 states. and washington d.c. >> it is estimated that sandy has caused $10 billion to $20 billion in damage. making it one of the most expensive storms in american history. financial markets are closed again today because of the storm. here in new york city, the subway system could be closed for days because of historic flooding. our correspondents are on the ground this morning across the east covering the impact of super storm sandy. >> we begin our coverage in hard-hit new york city where president obama has just declared a state of emergency. jim axelrod is at battery park in lower manhattan which was inundated with water. good morning. >> reporter: when i spoke to police commissioner ray kelly here yesterday, i asked him what his biggest concern was about the approaching storm.

he didn't hesitate. blackouts, he said. that's exactly what new yor this morning. super storm sandy made landfall late monday. a wet and windy nightmare. >> we knew this was going to be a great, dangerous storm. the storm met our expectations. >> reporter: sandy exceeded them. around 9:00 p.m. the storm produced a record surge at battery park in manhattan. 13.88 feet. breaching the sea wall and flooding the area. manhattan's waterfront seemed to disappear as the surge rushed over the wall. >> unknown. storm of the century. >> reporter: roads and cars were quickly covered. ground zero was engulfed. across the harbor in brooklyn, there was so much flooding around coney island that emergency responders couldn't reach the area. corrosive sea water headed underground into new york city subway and commuter tunnels. to prevent further damage power was deliberately cut to 6500 customers in manhattan.

but that's not why the skyline went dark. this is. explosion at a con edison plant, more than eople across the city lost power.pital was one of them. doctors and patients were forced to leave late last night when backup generators there rlsalso failed. >> trying to move the patients as fast as possible. hopefully we will be able to evacuate them in a number of hours. >> reporter: also evacuated several buildings surrounding a luxury high-rise in midtown manhattan. a construction crane on the 75th floor collapsed in sandy's high winds and has been dangling over the city ever since. >> holy [ bleep ]. >> reporter: engineers are still trying tune respect the damage and prevent any additional problem. >> we are seeing a large number of fires caused by downed wires, electrical problems relating to outage. >> one of the biggest fires started late last night in queens. according to the new york fire department more than 50 homes have been destroyed. the latest numbers from con ed

power company that serve it is new york metropolitan area 670,000 people that are without power in new york city and westchester county. a spokesman for con ed says this is the single largest storm related outage in its history. >> incredible. thank you. sandy caused major damage along the entire new jersey coast. jeff glor is in atlantic city. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. sandy made landfall five miles south of here in atlantic city. as you can see half a day later, it is still not over yet. sandy whipped the shore with multistate strike power was cut to more than 7 million. floodwaters gushed into towns along the mid >> we had waves as high as the -- on the boardwalk. >> reporter: it struck near atlantic city dropping just below hurricane status before landfall. but long before that it tore apart sections of the boardwalk and flooded more than 80% of the

city. responders rescued dozens of evacuees after water closed in on their shelter. new jersey's governor chris christie blamed atlantic city's mayor who he says didn't do enough to let people know they needed to leave. >> i hope and pray that there won't be any loss of life because of it. >> reporter: from sleeping side communities to the nation's capital and new england, sandy was unrelenting. bringing down trees to power poles. a coast guard rescue took place after the hms bounty sank. in elmhurst new jersey cameras captured waves crashing against a beachfront restaurant before the building collapsed. houses on estimates, no match. >> it is not over yet. i don't know how much worse it is going to be. >> reporter: there wasn't just rain. there was snow. whiteout conditions in some spots. sandy may be slowing down but

the twin threat in the east from inundating rains and historic flooding is far from over. theouster creek nuclear power plant, 30 miles north here of atlantic city did declare an alert last night after floodwaters rose higher than expected. it is hoped it is a waters recede that threat recedes. meanwhile, just outside of new jersey, we are told people are being rescued this morning after a levee was potentially breached. >> jeff glor thanks. hurricane force winds pounded ocean city maryland for most of the day and night. chip reid covered the storm in ocean city and is there now. jeff, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the ferocious surf of the last couple of days calmed down a bit here in ocean city. as the storm has moved north. that does not mean that the storm is over because they have said all along that their biggest worry by far is flooding. the streets of ocean city

maryland, last night looked like small swollen rivers. strewn with debris and surging towards the center of the narrow barrier island that is now nearly deserted. city officials say the vast majority of people here heeded their warnings and left town. they say that's a key reason no one has been killed or seriously injured here by hurricane sandy. earlier in the day it was easy to see why officials were so worried and why they issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city's low-lying neighborhoods. some homes on the bay appeared the virginia of collapseing into the sxwaertwater. the surf was ferocious. flooding was also severe farther up the coast in rehoboth delaware. docks were under water. downtown was deserted. along the chesapeake communities were evacuated due to extreme flooding. residents there said it was the worst they had ever seen. >> i feel sorry. it is not over yet.

>> reporter: today police emergency responders and the national guard will be patrolling the emergency evacuation zones of the city checking on the safety of people who chose to ride out this storm. >> xhip reidchip reid thanks. a hurricane was turned into a blizzard. anna, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this is what you get on the flip side of hurricane sandy. the snow. in this mountainous area of west virginia the snow started falling yesterday afternoon and it hasn't stopped all night. several inches here in town it is estimated that they are going to have between one and three feet in the higher elevations. and you might not hear the noise behind us but we can. it is the sound of tree branches breaking. the main problem, this snow is so wet and so heavy that power

lines and trees are being impacted. it is now estimated that minimum 100,000 people here in west virginia are without power this morning. and many of them are in spread-out areas. could be days could be a week before some of them are restored power this morning. >> how difficult is it to get around in that area? >> reporter: very difficult. overnight police had to shut down a stretch of highway north of here. people were getting stuck and they actually had to scramble to find a couple of shelters find places to put people just so the people would have a place to go. the roads are treacherous around here. officials are telling people just stay home. >> anna warner thank you. cbs news hurricane consultant david bernard is tracking sandy and is chief meteorologist of our miami station. david, where is sandy now? how long is it going to last? >> lit last a while longer.

taking up even more real estate than it was yesterday. now here is a look at some of the highest wind gusts were during the storm parts of the northeast. islip, wind gust of 90. la guardia 74. bridgeport, wind gust to 76. notice that the wind gusts in the northeast this morning are coming down. since midnight we had 52 at la guardia and 45 at atlantic city. less than that providence also on the -- martha's vineyard not much of a wind gust at all. where are we heading now? look at the dramatic snows. we just saw anna in west virginia. those are spreading to kentucky spreading as far west of cincinnati this morning. still some moderate to heavy rains around the d.c. area. that flood threat is beginning to decrease just a little bit. this storm is taking up a huge amount of real estate and as it continues to move off to the west. right into the mid part of the country. that's going to con to be a big problem. again, these areas of the mountains up to three feet of snow possible before it is all

said and done. and just to give you an idea of the extent of the storm in chicago this morning, lake shore, they have flood warnings in effect. they are expecting waves to break as high as 27 feet on lake michigan. that is enormous. >> task ahead is great. when you look at what has happened, is it greater than you expected? honestly it is about what we expected. and the one thing we immediate to keep in mind is that we are early in this post storm. some areas still going through the storm. wore still going to have a significant high tide at around 9:00 this morning. and, again, tonight, it will not be near as high. water level was last night. that still has pressure on some areas. and so we are just going to have to wait and see how this shapes out. i imagine the damage estimates are too low at this point and a lot between don't know yet. with light of day we will start to see more consequences of what this storm had to bring. >> david bernard, thank you. with us now is craig fugate

administrator of the fema. he is monitoring the storms in washington. good morning. >> good morning. >> what's the most important thing for us to know from your standpoint? >> one if you are not in an area of immediate danger stay inside, off the roads. we still have dangerous conditions. the other thing is last night, president obama talking to the governor of new jersey and new york. grant ad major presidential disaster declaration. in addition to previous assistance to ensure that all resources are being made available as governors. to respond. we are very much in response situation, as you pointed out, this is not over. we are not talking being recovery. we are still talking about safety watch operations. we are working very closely with the governor's teams to get those resources in their ads. they have requested them. >> administrator, let's talk about those search and rescue teams. where are you deploying your resources now? >> teams were moving yesterday.

primarily right now is we are assisting new jersey along some of the coastal communities. but this is a -- rapidly changing situation. we are very closely linked up with west virginia about the snow. what may be needed there. as well as additional rainfall and flooding. so -- our -- really the heaviest areas of new york city and into new jersey coast, last night, prompted a lot of requests and conning to assess as we see more impacts come in. >> what can you tell us about these reports in bergen county new jersey, where people are on the roofs of their homes? have you been made aware of those reports? >> yeah. we know there were -- levee breach, again, this is all very preliminary. we know there's a levee breach that was being reported. we know that there were several thousand homes that were flooded, water levels of six feet or greater. new jersey and or teams were responding in those areas. we have other reports that we are monitoring. but we are working with and are

embedded with the state teams and as they need additional resources, bringing those in as quickly as we can. right now our lead federal agency, support of the search and rescue operations, u.s. coast guard. we also have a lot of local teams, search and rescue teams, we have sent in and support this response. >> craig, what has been the biggest surprise for you so far in this storm? >> unfortunately it hasn't been the surprise. it has been what we were looking at. you hoped it wasn't going to be this bad. but i think that what we have seen is -- this storm surge was going to be one of the biggest threats. i think that was one of the things that people needed to understand and, unfortunately, it did happen. >> craig fugate thank you. earlier we heard from jim axelrod, the new york university medical center had to evacuate more than 200 patients last night. the hospital had lost power and emergency generator failed. >> good morning. >> what did you see? >> you know charlie, when i got

there, it was an extraordinary scene. the stakes could not have been higher. i got there a little bit before midnight. lobby was filled with doctors and nurses and policemen, firemen, all trying to get about 200 people out of the hospital. as of this morning i just heard a pew minutes ago, they have an all but 50 out. that included kids neonatal kids. four were intubated. when i got there, they were being brought out, they were being bagged manually and one was a 29 week old premature baby swaddled gently being carried with a face mask. an extraordinary scene. >> a nurse was care dwrg premature baby. >> absolutely. >> how could this happen? i mean in a hospital like this, one of new york's premier hospitals, generators failed. >> i found out -- i think this is really news that -- there were two generators. there was a primary backup generator that was on the roof. then there was a secondary backup generator that was at a

lower level. now it happened with the flood came in, took out the secondary backup generator. no problem with the one on the roof. problem was the pump that was lower down that sent fuel up to that primary backup generator on the roof, that gotflooded. it ran out of fuel. >> for a moment the risk of transferring patients like this from one place to another. >> it is extraordinary to get -- i went up the staircase, okay. you are talking about 15 18 floors. very narrow staircase. they were being brought down one by one. i helped one -- it took a long time to get them around the corner and -- they were brought down in sleds, like mountain climbing gear grappling iron hooked on to the side and stopped them from falling down. >> must have had extraordinary anxiety. >> well, i saw one -- in their eyes they were very -- i was extremely impressed with the coordination and professionalism of the rescue effort. nurses doctors, everybody really kept everything under control. this is what they are used to doing, responding to

emergencies. everybody kept their cool. >> thank you so welcome back to 9 news. even though the mid atlantic received a lot of rain and some heavy wind gusts we were spared the full force of the storm. here's a look at some of the latest head lines. at least 16 deaths are being blamed on the storm. an estimated 7.5 million have lost power. sandy came ashore along the new jersey coastline with 80 mile an hour winds and a 13 foot surge. in new york city the storm surge flooded tunnels subway systems and the electrical system for manhattan. here in dc the frat government and most area governments are shut down for a second day in a row. metro is shut down. they will reevaluate conditions later this afternoon. every other public transportation agency is also

closed. looking at the rails am tracks remains suspended. most flights have been canceled or delayed and most school systems are closed again today. for a complete list of closures associated with this storm log onto our website at wusa9.com. i'm andera rose. we begin with howard and today's forecast. thanks. looking a lot better today. still cold rainfalling this morning. -- rain falling this morning. i want to show you the storm, what's left of sandy trying to mix in a little wet snow in a few of the higher elevations here. it's in the mountains of west virginia they're getting pounded. heavy rain bands out of fairfax montgomery arlington county. wrong there's snow up to our north like it's showing. there could be a wet flake mixed in.

a forecast today which has a temperature down to 43 in washington a moderate to heavy rain at times early. that will taper off to showers. temperatures by lunchtime only the low 40s. we'll be lucky to get to 45 or 46. 30 to maybe 40 wind gusts this morning. the thing is enormous still throwing snow into ohio and michigan. we're taking about wave heights in lake michigan and chicago potentially more than 2 stories high here. winter and blizzard warnings still continue in the mountains. snow shoe could get 30 inches to 3 feet of heavy wet snow from this. we have our own problems with downed trees and power lines.

now over to monica. power lines signal lights out, debris in the roadway an high standing water. lots to consider if you're plan ning to head out the door. no vre today. most flights still canceled. check with you airline for your flight status. let's go to live pictures outside. again, it's going to be light for the most part all around town. route 50, for example, the bay bridge remains closed. also in maryland a 45 mile an hour speed restriction also in place on your major highways. let's take a live look elsewhere. here in virginia, it's not going to be the volume you need to consider coming up through springfield all your crossings are doing fine. no issues to report there. one last live look if you're planning to head to

pennsylvania avenue. high winds have died down but flooding is still a concern in the district. jessica doyle joins us live from the georgetown water front. good morning. sfwlr -- >> reporter: good morning. we're here on the potomic watching it rise and rise. we're about 4 inches away from the river actually reaching the bank here. this is a major problem this early in the morning. you can see the kind of debris that's accumulating here. it's so thick in some places it almost looks like you can walk on it. here's the problem with the time line. at this point we're still 2 and a half hours away from high tide. by my calculations the river has been rising about a foot an hour. that will give you an indication of what we could be looking like around 9:30 this morning. national weather service has been warning the area that we are facing flooding

situations that we haven't seen in 16 years. this spot is considered one of the most vulnerable spots for flooding not only today but all the way into thursday and friday as a wall of water comes in from pennsylvania. we are buttoned uptight here. the flood walls are going to stay up during the situation. we are going to stay here with continuing coverage at george town this morning. back to you in the news room. >> jessica doyle reporting live. the powerful winds we had over night knocked out power to about 350,000 of us, the majority of them in northern reporter: good afternoon va. on the board -- in northern reporter: good afternoon va. what's the late -- in vorn virginia. what's the late st? >> the emergency operation center here continues to be

activated and our board of supervisors will be meeting at noon. safety is still a concern. we remind people there's still a lot of rain on the streets. turn around, don't drown, do not drive through roads that are wet and have standing water. thank goodness no injuries or loss of life in fairfax county. we have almost 70,000 households without power right now. 52 trees have fallen into homes. we still have potential flooding in some of our low lying areas. we have a shelter open. we are still responding to needs here in fairfax county. we remind everyone be safe. there's not a lot of people going to work today because various governments and organizations and businesses are closed. people should still be safe. has been been pointed out the temperature is dropping is it's going to start getting chilly. >> we're almost out of time. in maryland there's driving restrictions.

in virginia are there any limitations on the speed you advise drivers to follow this morning? >> no. no official re restrictions like that. we do advise safety. to keep from hydro planing people should be careful and not drive too fast. there's not any specific lowering of the speed limit. >> the governor declared a state of emergency last weekend. what is that allowing fairfax county to do as far as recovering and helping people get back into normalcy? >> we have both state agencies and the county here together along with utilities in the emergency operation center. they help us all work together and will help in the future when we're looking for more resources. >> she's the director of public affairs for fairfax county. thank you for speaking with us this morning. we will continue our special coverage of super storm sandy after this from the early show. of course the early show in new

york is bringing you up to date on conditions up and down the northeast corridor and what's happening in lower manhattan. you can always stay in touch with us by going to wusa9.com. keeping in touch on m.wusa9.com and also of our other mobile devices. we'll return in about 20 minutes.

welcome back to "cbs this morning." we continue our coverage of super storm sandy. we told you earlier that three northern new jersey towns were flooded this morning. reportedly after a levee gave way. hundreds of people are being evacuated. >> it is one more problem for new jersey governor chris christie to worry about. he is with us this morning. governor good morning. >> good morning. >> report to us please how new jersey is doing this morning and what is the size of the loss? >> it is a major disaster in new jersey. you know i have gone through irene, october snowstorm, the blizzard of 2010. this is by par the worst thing we have gone through. we have 2.4 million people or households without power. we have over 200 state roads closed. we have -- wasn't actually a

levee. it was a berm and the berm was overwhelmed by the tidal surge that came up the newark bay. same one affecting new york city. we are in the midst of rescuing hundreds of people in bergen county from their homes. also involved in rescues last night, middlesex county rescuing people from their homes. again, not with river flooding but tidal surge from the bay. so this is -- not even to mention what's happen order the jersey coastline which i think in the long run will be the part of the state that's the most devastated. you saw some of the scenes yesterday from up and down our coast. new jersey obviously this is where it came onshore. i think the state of new jersey took it in the neck worse than any other state. it is going to take as you while to dig out from under it but we will dig out from under. >> many people just waking up to all of the damage. can you calculate how much loss there has been? >> not yet. you know we are -- i'm hoping to get up in helicopter this afternoon. we can't go up this morning.

the winds are still in new jersey between 30 and 50 miles per hour. unsafe for us to go up in helicopters now. i'm hoping to do that this afternoon. survey the damage of the jersey shore. then to move up to some of the flooding we have in the northern part of the state. we obviously have newark new jersey overall majority of people without power in that city. a large number of people without power in jersey city. all because substations around the newark bay have been flooded because of the tidal surge. so -- we have a lot of work to do. so -- assessing the damage now, little bit too early to tell. let me just say this. it is going to be certainly more than irene. >> the level of cooperation between local, state and federal has been exemplary? >> excellent. i was the phone for the third time yesterday. last night with the president of the united states. he called me at midnight last night to check in on how things were going. he was seeing reports about how bad things were in new jersey. he accelerated the major

disaster declaration for new jersey without the usual red tape. i can't thank the president enough for that. signed that this morning. and so i have to say this. cooperation has been great with fema here on the ground. and our intelligence center and cooperation for the president of the united states has been outstanding. he deserves great credit. >> what's your worst fear at this moment? >> my worst fear at this moment is loss of life for the people who have been flooded and the people who did not heed my warning to evacuate the coastline. so we are now in the midst of having at least -- a dozen urban search and rescue teams fanned out across the street in the most affected areas to make sure anyone that's still in harm's way gets out of harm's way. that's my biggest concern. i have great sympathy and concern for those folks. i wish they listened to the order but they didn't. now the sun has come up in new jersey. we need to try to rescue them. that's my biggest concern. the rest of it will be digging out from under. that's going to take some time

and -- cost money. but if we save lives, that's the one thing that is irreplaceable. >> there are reports 80% of atlantic city under water. you have been sharply critical of the mayor there. blaming him for the trapped residents. is that how you feel again this morning? >> first off, yes, it is. i also -- i have great sympathy. i said concern for the -- for the people who listen -- there was a mixed message, wrong message in mixed messages. signed an order for evacuation of atlantic city. the mayor set up shelters. we sent 75 bus tows move people out thereof and many people said to us, no the mayor said we can stay here. i mean those are the kind of mixed messages at the worst moment can cost lives. i'm upset about it. when i am is much more concerned for the folks who are -- are still trapped in atlantic city. >> why do you think the mayor said that?

>> i don't know. >> you don't know? >> i don't know. we order the evacuation of atlantic city during irene as well. and irene did not have the devastation on the coastline that sandy did. i don't know whether he thought that we were you know being chicken little here. but we knew that this was a real potential problem. i always err on the side of saving human lives. whether he thought this was not going to happen i don't know. but the fact is that every national weather service was telling us that this storm was going to land and would land very close to atlantic city with unprecedented power. and so i don't know why he did what he did. >> governor christie we know how busy you and your team are. we wish you the best and thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. we appreciate all the outreach we have gotten from other folks around the country. and new jersey is a tough place. we will dig out from under it and we will be back. >> thank you, governor. emergency workers have been coping with automatic kinds of situations during this storm.

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massive storm like sandy which flooded major roadways and left millions without power is a huge challenge for police and other emergency personnel. >> senior correspondent john miller is at the nypd joint operations center. good morning >> reporter: good morning. we are here in the nypd's joint operation center. this place has been the hub of coordination all night. extraordinarily busy and very challenging night. there are a handful of people dead. there are others missing. they are in assessment mode really right now trying to do the damage assessment citywide.

we know many many people are without power. we know that waters surged into streets. some of that is starting to recede now. of course power lines are down overnight. east river hudson river, both overflowing at different points. and through the night, as you drove through the city listen to the police radio, and remember, for much of lower manhattan, driving through pitch blackness, you heard the rescue calls of stranded cars people trapped in their vehicles, people trapped in their homes. the worst hit, of course, outer boroughs. we went out with truck one, the s.w.a.t. team and the rescue squad of the nypd as they patrolled manhattan. a night of water rescues and darkness. by the time emergency service truck one rolled out for the late shift the rescue calls were already stacking up from 911. most of the calls involved

submerged cars. east river crested its banks and seemed to rush down the streets whipped by the winds. >> it is going to get worse but our department prepares and our unit trains for things like this all the time. we are ready for it no matter what. >> reporter: the winds seemed to suck plate glass windows out of the upper floors of a high-rise hotel. one of the officers crawled out on a ledge to get the plate glass before it fell 23 stories to the street. while wirp out with the police checking on the deteriorating streets, we heard a boom. then another boom. the power substation along the east river lit up the night sky with two bright fiery explosions. for 20 blocks crews were out in force but the loss of electricity meant no calls for the emergency squad. now not just for people stuck in cars but people with no power people stuck in elevators, too.

>> we are back with commissioner raymond kelly. where are we in the assessment? >> that's exactly what we are doing. we are assessing. we are still very much concerned about areas in staten island and rockaway, brooklyn coney island. as you said, there's no power in manhattan south of 34. obviously very serious concerns. we don't have our helicopters in the air to give us a better assessment. that's because of the wind gusts. we are trying to get our launches back in the area. to give us a sense of what's happening. so -- we are -- we are -- very much in assessment mode. looking for where we should put our resources. >> the worst hit areas outside of the blackout and lower manhattan are these outer boroughs staten island garrison beach brooklyn, rockaways. what can we expect to find there

today? >> well we -- people will be stranded. we understand that. that's what we are geared to do now. search and find people. we are still in their homes and trying to get them out. we only found six people who have been killed. unfortunately we think that number will go up. we are looking, again, to work closely with another agency fire department, ems, to effect the search. >> yesterday as we stood here we talked about what was being done to evacuate that area. and at the same time, we were getting reports back that not a lot of people particularly rockaway getting on the buses, did people just decide that they could stay and that this was going to be all right? >> well, that's exactly what happened. people stayed in areas, obviously, you know if they had to do it over again they wouldn't stay there. but that's -- that's what we are

handed today. that's the hand we have been del. we are going back into those areas. rescuing people who may be stranded. removing people, to the shelters. >> commissioner kelly. joint operation center. >> thank you very much. welcome back to 9 news special coverage of super storm sandy. even though the mid atlantic received a lot of heavy rain and wind gusts we were spared the full force of sandy. at least 16 deaths are being blamed on the storm. an estimated 7.5 million people have lost power all along the east coast. sandy came to shore last night along the new jersey coastline with 80 mile an hour winds and a 13 foot surge. new york city the storm surge flooded tunnels subway stations and the electrical system.

most local governments are shut down. metro sales -- is also shut down. it will e reevaluate conditions this afternoon. every other public transportation agency is also closed. most of amtrax remains suspended today as well. most flights have been canceled or delays. most school systems are also closed today. for a complete list of all the closures log onto our website at wusa9.com. monica has your time saver traffic but we begin with howard and today's forecast. it's a wet soggy start. it's a cold wet soggy start. temperatures this morning in the low 40s climbing to the mid 40s as the steadier rains taper off to showers here. wooe -- we'll have the showers on and off through the day. wind southwest 20 to 25 miles an hour.

could be gusting closer to 335 -- 35 this afternoon. gusting to 30 in dc. we can handle this. this is smog nothing -- this is nothing compared to the gusts yesterday that were over 70 miles an hour. costal flooding will be a problem. high tide 2 to 4 feet above normal. we have high tides about 6:38 in annapolis. coming up in the next couple of hours in old time at 9:26. that's going to crest 8.5 feet above. on the potomic above normal early this evening. more moderate to major flooding. still some moderate rain here. the heavy snows have been out into west virginia where we've been watching some of these snow totals potentially 30 inches in

the highest elevations above 3,000 feet. for the most part look at this heavy ban of rain we're dealing with now from central and eastern fairfax actually across the southern half of prince george county. this thing is slowly moving west to east. it's just a wet chilly morning with temperatures in the upper 30s in winchester and in annapolis at 43. here's monica with a look at the traffic. it's the after math of sandy that we're dealing with on the roadways in terms of high row planing, flooding conditions, all of these things behind me. these factors are definitely going to effect your drive this morning. it is not going to be the volume. fallen trees leaves making the roads slippery and signal light outages all across the area. keep that in mind.

you're going to need the extra time to deal with it. it's the flooding in the low lying areas, high standing water even on your secondary roads. remember the motto is turn around, don't drown. do not go through high standing water. even a lit tle bit can sweep your car away. around the beltway a tiny bit of volume. let's take a look at live pictures. on the northbound side of i-95, no hov restrictions today on any of the major roads. again, no parking enforcement in most of our a area with government offices closed. back to you. >> thank you very much. northern va irginia had the most power outages in our viewing area. we are joined live

from there. >> reporter: this area is very flood prone. this has flooded numerous times. the people here are ready and waiting for that to happen once again. in fact, there's the evacuation bus ready to take folks as soon as the water starting rises. you evacuated people yesterday right? >> yes. approximately at 3:00 p.m. yesterday we evacuated folks, knocking on the doors mainly on the streets in airling tong. we had a shelter for them at 601 telegraph road. >> reporter: the water has not hit the homes. it hapt even hit the road yet, correct? >> the water did rise to the streets. it did get to the street. it never reached anyone's home. that was blessing. >> reporter: i know most people didn't take you up on your offer. they have moved their

vehicles out of the way because they've had problem with that before when the waters come too fast and their cars wounded up flooded. >> yes they did move their vehicles. 30 to 40 individuals did move to the rec center. the other folks are here in their homes waiting to see what's going to happen. we have three buses on standby waiting. one of them is right here waiting to take individuals up to the rec center. also we have somewhere to take their pets as well. >> reporter: that's right. now, this is an issue that is a bond issue, a bond question on the ballot this election coming up on tuesday. still, of course people here keeping their fingers crossed that we're not going to see the flooding. what is your expectation? i know 9:00 is a critical time this morning, right? >> right. 9:00 high tide tide. if it stay s below that 5 feet level we probably won't have to worry about anything. if we were going to get 8 9 10 inches of

rain, then we were going to have to be worried. right now it seems like we only got 4 to 5 inches of rain so it's not a big worry. we are keeping the department of public works engineers down at bell view keeping an eye on the water to make sure because there's a possibility that we would have to evacuate. >> reporter: exactly. same problems if -- in bell view. thank you so much for talking to us this morning. that bond issue would -- it's a $30 million bond issue that would have a levy and pumping station built which would help prevent the flooding we see so often here. reporting live peggy fox. >> thank you very much. our special coverage of super storm sandy continues. right now we want to take you out the scott who is driving near dover, delaware. what are you seeing? >> i'm in my mobile news room, hands free and locked down here as i move south towards delaware

and maryland coast. the chesapeake bay bridge this morning is closed, which has cut off the eastern shore. >> we are obviously having some technical problems with scott. if we can get back to him in the next few minutes we will. thousands of our neighbors all across our region were left without power. we have been mon storing -- been monitoring this for you. >> that power outage continues to go down. we're now at 428,000 people left in the dark. you can see a lot of them in northern virginia. a lot of orange dots. we don't like to see that. that all equates to dominion power with 107,429 customers still waiting to get their power back on. when we head to bge, you can see some of the outages there. the number

stands at 191,196. again, that's bge. now, we also want to head over to pepco. the surprising number here we have at -- let me scroll down here -- 25,962. you can see the outage map right there. a lot of it concentrating in the good faithering berg area and also -- good faith gsh good faithering berg area -- gaithersberg. we have 16,220 coming in here. now that it's daylight though now people can really get to work, the crews can get out there, the storm has pass aed. -- passed. we can only hope those numbers will

decline. we're looking at bge 191,196. onlily theyily -- originally say that i had -- they said a lot of crews wouldn't be able to get in until wednesday. now that we're a lot calmer, in the clear. you can sometimes expect these numbers to go up and down for folks to be off the grid so that more people can get back online. so we're waiting to see what the time line is for these utility companies. they have not said yet. they of course are meeting momentarily to assess how they're going to attack these areas that are still in the dark. matt this is the very latest. we are monitoring all this and folks are in the dark right now. they can follow us on wusa9.com. we are live streaming it all on there and also on our iphones there's annapolis for that.

matt i'll send it back to you. >> you've been monitoring these apps for the power companies for a couple of days. how do you find they're working? >> they're working really great. it's realtime. i can click on it. it's updated by the minute. every half hour we've been notifying and trying to get the updates putting it on our website ever half hour. those numbers are changing. we're seeing them flex wait. they were going up and now they're slowly coming down, especially dominion power. it's gone up a couple times gone back down. now it's back to 112,000. we no -- we know that they're working on it. it's really giving us the opportunity to tell our viewers what's happening. >> terrific. thank you. we'll see you in a few minutes. whether or not you have power, our we shall and social media teams have you covered.

make sure you have devices make sure your devices are charged so you can watch our live stream on our mobile site m.wusa9.com or by using our mobile app. both have all the latest information about sandy and it's impact. you can get directions on how to down load it by texting the word sandy to 2543. that will also sign you up for our 9 news text alerts. thousands of your neighbors are already using them to stay up to date on closings, out ages and rising water. our facebook page is always a great brace mrais to get the latest information about sandy. we'll be back in about a half an hour with another update and a full special coverage report in about an hour. have a great one.

good morning. it is 8:00 a.m. welcome back. super storm sandy is not done with us yet. we will follow the path of the storm and show you some of the hardest hit areas. a piece of hollywood history, "hms bounty," sank in the storm. we will show you how most of the crew made to it safety. first, sheer a look at what's happening in the world and what we have been covering on "cbs this morning." sandy made landfall five miles south of here in atlantic city. as you can see, half a day later, it is still not over yet. >> much of the east coast is waking up to see the full devastation of super s sandy. >> biggest concern about the approaching storm. >> blackouts. that's exactly what new york city is dealing with this

morning. >> what's the biggest surprise for you so far in this storm? >> unfortunately, it hasn't been the surprise. it has been what we were looking at. you hoped it wasn't going to be this bad. >> major disaster in new jersey. this is by far the worst we have gone through. >> in ocean city they said all along that their biggest worry by far is flooding. >> this is what you get on the flip side of hurricane sandy. the snow. >> here in the nypd's joint operations center they are in assessment mode really r trying to do the damage assessment. >> that's the power of the surge. >> ladies and gentlemen, we are in the middle of hurricane sandy. and we have no studio audience. but by god, we do have quite a show for you tonight. thank you very much for joining us here. >> millions of people along the east coast this morning are seeing the damage from super

storm sandy. it is responsible for at least 17 deaths. >> forecasters told us that sandy would be historic and it was. we begin with jim axelrod in new york city. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. all eyes now anxiously looking at this water over my shoulder. hudson river and new york harbor meat, this of course was the root of most of the trouble in new york yesterday. the next high tide is set for a little more than an hour from now and so everyone watching and hoping we don't see water come back over the sea wall because, obviously, that's where most of the trouble finds its root yesterday. right now 231,000 new yorkers in manhattan alone are without power. and that's because of the storm surge of nearly 14 feet yesterday. new record. over the wall and into new york city, power substations and subway stations. what that did, of course was as corrosive sea water poured into the electrical substations,

power went out, south of 34th street on the island of manhattan as we say, almost a quarter million people still without power this morning. and so the big concern is will the high tide bring more water over and only exacerbate the problems that exist now. we are told that the subway system could be out of operation for at least a week. it could take up to a week to get power restored into parts of manhattan that don't have it. of course, the assessments are being done right now by new york city officials. so we will know a lot more what to expect it is a day wears on. >> jim axelrod, thanks. sandy is turning out to be a factor in the presidential election with one week left in the race both candidates this morning are off the campaign trail. >> good morning. even with sandy bearing down on millions of east coast voters the president tried on squeeze in one last campaign stop yesterday in florida. it p didn't quite make it. but then got back here and he

met with his emergency managers and with reporters. he urged americans to pull together and look out for one another. >> we set aside whatever issues we may have otherwise to make sure we respond appropriately and with swiftness and that's exactly what i anticipate is going to happen here. >> the president's return -- returned from the campaign trail, allowed him to appear above politics a week before the election. meeting with adviser receiving briefings in the situation room. >> impact on the election sir? >> i am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. >> reporter: in the crucial swing state of ohio the campaign was very much under way. >> i know you are expecting the real president. the present president. >> he is doing the job the president should be doing. >> reporter: two of the president's top allies vice president joe biden and former president bill clinton kept up the fight against governor romney. focusing on an ad the romney campaign is airing in ohio that

claims mr. obama -- >> sold chrysler to italians who were going to build jeeps in china. >> it is an absolutely false assertion! >> reporter: now we will see the president today at some point to talk about the storm. overnight he called new york governor andrew cuomo and new jersey governor chris christie and new york mayor michael bloomberg. he also signed disaster declarations for new york and new jersey. as for the campaign well it is still on hold. the president, however, remains visible. still with the race as close as it is, there is going to be a lot of catching up to do in the last few days before the election. and nobody really knows how that's going to work. >> one week from today we will know. governor mitt romney shifting his schedule because of the storm. jan, hello. >> reporter: hello, gayle. governor romney canceled all of

his campaign events today. he had several scheduled in ohio and iowa and instead he's going to be attending a disaster relief event. he's asking people to bring supplies, contributions, donations, that will be here in ohio. yesterday he also got briefed by federal officials, fema department of homeland securityservice, about the storm. the government's response to the storm and rallies, iowa yesterday, he urged people to come together to say this is the kind -- time to put politics aside. >> the damage will probably be significant and a lot of people will be out of power for a long time. so -- hopefully your thoughts and prayers will join with mine and people across the country as you think about those folks that are in harm's way. >> reporter: earlier in the day northern ohio romney struck a somber tone. >> lot of people are enduring very difficult times. and our hearts and our prayers go to them. as we think about how tough it is going throb. >> reporter: he also asked supporters to help those along the east coast with donations to organizations like the red

cross. but the storm is taking romney off the trail at a critical time after a rise in poll numbers and surging momentum. he canceled rallies in swing states like ohio iowa wisconsin, new hampshire, and virginia. states where a bipartisan message to appeal to independents and undecided voters. with the hurricane romney toned down his criticism of the president but continued to push his name if elected he would reach across the aisle. >> i will meet regularly with democrat leadership republican leadership, work for the common interests of the people of america. put the interest of the people ahead of the interest of the politicians. >> reporter: we are here in cleveland. i have to say this city and this area also taken a real hit from this storm. this morning more than 100,000 people are without power. very high wind gusts here last night. over 65 miles an hour. guys we actually saw a woman trying to cross the street being lifted up and thrown down in the middle of the street just by this very high wind.

today schools are closed roads are closed airport is shut until at least noon and possibly much later. still very difficult conditions here in the midwest. >> bad weather affecting you in ohio. thank you very much. with us now is "cbs this morning" political director john dickerson. good morning. >> good morning. >> do we know how this storm may affect voting? the election is just one week from today. >> yeah. well, it has -- in this public pause, that will probably start to end at the end of today. and -- both campaigns will kind of be fully back up tomorrow. although -- comments will still be moderated a little bit. i think that at the moment, the assessment is they lost some time on the campaign trail which is a crucial organizational benefit for both campaigns when the -- when the main guys running are out on the trail. that's much more powerful than when surrogates show up. in terms of early voting the key thing to watch will be ohio where jan is. because it is -- if peel aren't able to go to the early voting places that's one day lost in that crucial race to bank those

votes early. >> how and when does each candidate resume their campaign schedule without appearing to be insensitive during this time? >> well, that's right. that's the balance they are trying to make now. you heard governor romney nobody wants to put the personal political above the american people as he was trying to make that bipartisan pitch. well, both of them are very sensitive and don't want to look political at this moment. the campaigns have been kicking each oprah under the table ever since this thing started. there is a fight on the ads. you heard joe biden fight. there is a big -- fight in ohio over the car bailout. the campaigns are still going on. they just don't want to let it bubble up to the surface. basically by tomorrow morning, we will be back into pull swing here. this is a frantic time for both campaigns. a pause is something they want to get over with fast. >> you have written the storm touches on -- what this campaign from the beginning has been about. >> that's right. i mean this is about the role of government and what it is

for, whether there is enough money to do the job it is supposed to do. it is -- serious question of what we asked the federal government to do. are either campaigns going to take that and try to make an argument about it on the stump? it doesn't seem like that is going to be the case based on my report thing morning. the president is not going the make a larger argument about this is why we need to fund the federal government. mitt romney has talked about bringing everyone together in a time of crisis. that's -- the kind of bipartisan togetherness message he was trying to finish this campaign on anyway. but that is a gentle connection here. i think what i can gather from this morning is basically they want the storm to be done with and will go back to their closing argument. >> john thank you.

we'll have a lock at toad's forecast. >> a lot better than yesterday. you're seeing the wetness on our camera here looking at the

capitol with low clouds, the rain that's been going on and some of this is still on the heavy side in spots and a cold day. low to mid-40s. winds still up. winds are going to be between 20 and 30 of south southwest gusting at times maybe 35 or 40 this morning. temperatures slowly climb, slowly climb to about 45, 46 for the high. we've got wind chills in the 30s likely staying there much of the day. winds gusting up to 29. notice most of the winds souther lee beeting into the center which is up here in south central pennsylvania wind gusting and winchester 21. the story in the mountain is the snow. we're doing to have total over 2 feet it's still snowing today with blizzard warnings up here. we've got costal flood warnings. high tide with full moon last night and winds coming in out of the south 2 to 4 feet above normal. we've got the next high tide

coming up shortly 9:26 alexandria. and annapolis it will be this evening at 6:38. river flooding a big problem and will be for the next several days. today causing problems in the frederick area. it will crest 8.5 feet above flood stage in the middle of the afternoon that's moderate to major flooding. there and also brunswick, you guys are dealing with the water coming downstream cresting this evening, 8 feet above flood stage that's considered moderate to major flooding for that area. potomac crest is going to be working its way down towards dc over the next couple of days. higher elevation circulation, it looks like we're dealing with moderate rain showers still going on across the region. especially here in town. look at this rain band that's set up in central montgomery down through fairfax county. it's been a secondary ban now which has been trying to fire here east of upper marl borrow

kind inform southeastern prince. eastern charles, maybe out towards out towards beta. this stuff is not moving much. maybe slow drift it's been a cold raw morning. that's not going to change, 45 in national. that's the warm spot, locally, we've got 46 in salisbury, upper 30s in winchester and already ray. skyline drive about 2,225 feet. certainly heavy snows up in west virginia wind chill i want to show you this, wind chills are running in the mid and upper 30s. we'll be in the 40s today. 50s high school wean with chance of shower and dry on thursday. i'm going to toss it to my colleague monica. >> on top of that dc cabs are charging a 15-dollar emergency surcharge until noon today. and you don't have public

transportation either. no rail, no bus on metro through the morning they'll reassess that situation later today. if you're planning to dre not today they're both suspended and local airports are open but you'll have to check with your airline for flight status. there are two things you can do call 511 or give nonemergency information call 311. let's take a look at our roadways right now and i'll give you an indication of what to expect. if you're planning to head over into the maryland roadways you want to remember there's a 45- mile an hour speed restriction. secondary roads are closed in virginia, fairfax, here in the district a few roads closed as well with trees down and some signal lights out as well. by the way no hov restrictions to worry about in virginia the rest of today. back to you, matt. >> monica thanks very much. we understand right now there's

some flooding or some fairly major flooding so we are joined on the phone by howard county executive mr. omen thanks for joining us on what must be a busy morning for you. >> can you give us an idea to about the flooding? >> sure. actually we dodged the bullet. we had some flooding last night it never got too terribly bad. we did some evacuations. our biggest concern right now is that we've lost power for both power sources to our waste water treatment plant. i've made clear to bg and e repeatedly this is our no. 1 priority. it's been down since about 11:00 last night and we're very concerned about the situation there. also we had just three people flown to shock trauma with carbon monoxide poisoning. there are so many people with generators that probably aren't used to having generators so we've got to remind people, if you're out of power, please don't run that generator in your home or garage.

keep it away from your house. the fumes can get in pretty quickly. >> sewage problem that you were talking about is that the same problem that we're hearing about the sewage spill right on the montgomery county, howard county line. >> this is our treatment plant, there are many spills around the state. in fact there are 13 treatment plants that have had over flows because of -- because of volumes of water with flooding. ours is in our treatment plant which flows in the middle river, both power -- both feeders are out so therefore there's about a million gallons of sewage going into the river which feeds into the bay every area. so i was on the fun with the president bge and reminding him, they've got to get this back up and running. >> do you have any idea when that might happen. >> you know, i wish it would have happened over night. so they've ashored me, we just

spoke with the governor's office this is their top priority. i'm -- it's not up yet and i'm getting frustrated. >> what about trees down in howard county and other problems like that? >> we've got trees down. wee eve -- on the other end we still have a few roads that are closed because of flooding, a few roads begin about a dozen to 15 roads either closed because of flooding or trees down or wires down. we have many signals still out on state roads and police officers working those, so, again, i just want to remind people, please be careful while you're -- when you go outside today. >> we're also telling people that even though the storm has apparently cleared and it's not as bad as we had thought it might have been, we're really not out of this just yet. there could be a lot more flooding in the next few days. >> we had so much rain in such a quick period of time. any continued bursts or wind gusts could still cause damage. trees will continue to come down because the ground is so soft.

again, we want people to know even though we dodged. it could have been a lot worse and feels like we're getting to the tail end of it, please continue to be careful. >> howard county executive, thanks so much for joining us. >> our special extended coverage of super storm sandy continues with a look at things in the district. jessica doyle joins us now live. jessica. >> thanks, mad, that's right we're live here washington -- watch -- watching the river rising. of course the water gauge is there in the background. those things that you see floating in the water, those are logs and big pieces of trees, big branches. we've got lots of junk i'm calling it river junk collecting here, bottles, styrofoam. i want to show you here at the water's edge just how close we are to this jump in thing the bank. literally it is right here. if you swirl it around the

debris is so. >> in 16 years, we still have a long time to go until high tide. 9:30 is when this is going to hit its peak, we're likely to see this, river jump the bank within the hour and we're doing to continue to watch the situation. the worst of it could still be tonight or it could be wednesday, thursday, or even as far as friday because of the massive amount of water that has been dumped on the east coast as far away as pennsylvania and it's making its way towards us hitting the

river the potomac is the situation here. georgetown is considered to be particularly vulnerable but we're buttoned uptight at this point. we're going to continue to watch the water rising very quickly for you here. matt, i'll send it back to you in the studio. >> thank you we'll check back in in a few minutes. the atlanta seaboard was battled by sandy. fisher more on a look things in beach delaware. >> we just drove about 10 miles northwest from the beach to lewis beach, this community was one of the hardest hit areas during hurricane sandy. this street still covered in about 6 inches of water but it was so much worse during the height of the storm last night. you can see we've got some debris still down, but only smaller branches. it does not appear that any rainwater actually got inside

of these homes or any of the storm surge got inside of these home. we clearly were -- we're not out here so i don't know for sure. it does not appear like these homes that sustained any severe flooding. if you look over here you can see a lot of the backyards, you're going see lots of pooling this morning. this kind of gives you a sense of what we're seeing in the bay community that is we've been talking beach. it's more back on the bay side that we're seeing a little bit street flooding. it's not so much coming from the bay, a lot of it is coming from the rainwater that's been pooling down here after several days of storms now. and this right here is cedar street, one of the main thoroughfares into lewis beach. you can see we've got standing water on either side of the roadway. and way down there a tree down hand's what's causing most of the power outages. lots of trees falling on powerlines about 40,000 people in delaware still without power this morning and in terms of

these driving restrictions you can see someone clearly -- we're still under a mandatory no driving order from the governor. no one unless you are emergency personnel or essential personnel are allowed to be driving around here. there's been effect since 5:00 yesterday morning but it could be lifted a little bit later this morning. in lewis beach i'm christian fisher, 9news now. >> all right. thank you very much. thousands of our neighbors all across the area were left without power last night. here is more with the latest on that. >> howard county exec sharing his frustration with bge, yes, they do have the highest number of outages right at 195,007 people still without power. homes without power. so at the height of it they were close to 300,000, so they had made some progress. when you don't have power it can't come soon enough.

another outage map right there, you see a lot of orange dots but a new one that just popped up is near old town and alexandria, what those red dots mean that more than 2500 people are in the dark right now waiting for their power, another red dot that's been there throughout the night and morning is near lorton. that area those two biggest hit right now still waiting for dominion power to get on the ball right there to get their power back on. and what we've also been seeing is that these numbers have been fluctuating up and down and i've been seeing a trend of going slightly up as daylight came on and a lot of times they're trying to take people off the grid so they can put people back on line. here is another area, they're showing also has a lot of power outages and that map is now disappeared. but in any event hopefully more people, more crews will be able to get out and make a lot of

progress this morning and this afternoon. we'll send it back to you, matt. >> thank you very much. and as we head to break. we leave you with a live look at conditions in the beach. 9news special conch of super storm sandy will continue after the cbs early show in just about an hour. see you then.

>> when you went to college you were premed. >> that was the first joke. >> plus lisa welchel. >> wednesday is our biggest halloween ever. >> and that's the truth. >> live on cbs. ♪ >> welcome back to "cbs this morning." millions of people are waking up to a harsh reality. superstorm sandy knocked out their power and some could be in the dark for ten days or longer. good morning. >> good morning. we are standing outside of a home here in arlington where the high winds from hurricane sandy toppled the 70-foot oak tree and sent it crashing into the second story of this home. we have spoken to the home owner and he's okay. he is the only one that was at home.

but this is the scene that is facing thousands of homeowners that they wake up this morning and as these downed trees, power lines, and floods cut the electric power to 7.3 million homes. impact ranges from north carolina to here in virginia to new york city. where the most dramatic scene unfolded last night. the video is eerily quiet. but the explosion was described as deafening. bright blue flashes came from the lower east side of manhattan where the power company, con edison reported the storm blew out a transformer leaving parts of the city blacked out. on twitter, one new yorkers wrote everything went dark and i mean dark. another said lights out, manhattan, creepy. con edison called it the largest storm related outage in its history. the mayor of new york is michael bloomberg. >> we are seeing a large number of fires caused by downed wires on electrical problems relating to outages. >> reporter: two new york hospitals lost power and had to evacuate patients.

at least one lost the use of its elevators. in 13 states the lights went out for more than 6 million families. leaving a lot of work ahead for utility crews up and down the eastern seaboard. >> as soon as it is safe for the crews to go out we will go out and work around the clock. >> reporter: in washington and maryland, crews cannot go to work until winds are below 35 miles per hour. another concern are the reinforcements coming from all over the country to help. because the damage is so widespread that there aren't enough crews to go around. >> there remains about 15,000 requests from a variety of utility for crews unfulfilled. i don't think anybody has the resources they want to get the repairs back on. >> reporter: there is some good news this morning in that the storm wind in many areas have died down just enough for some of the restoration work to begin already. however the power companies here are warning their customers it will take days and for many weeks, before the power is fully

restored. >> wyatt andrews, thank you. more million of those blackouted homes and businesses are in new jersey. elaine, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. we are getting our first look at the damage in allenhurst. behind me is debris that was tually pushed by the ocean several blocks away. road where i'm standing right now was a river and this right here is just one example of how powerful this storm was. superstorm sandy barrelled through more than 100 miles of new jersey's coast side. sustained winds of 80 miles per hour. snapping power lines lit up the skies and high winds ripped down trees. roughly 2 million people are without power in the state. the emergency calls came in quickly in the coastal community of allenhurst.

>> lot of wires still hanging, trees are -- precarious situations. >> reporter: fire captain john hanson began surveying the damage just after the storm made landfall. >> other communities are probably much worse off. >> reporter: waves breached the sea wall water rushed down roads even hours before high tide. the boardwalk in sprang lake was swallowed by eight to ten-foot waves. and we saw the force of the store firsthand. last night cbs news had a temporary office at this water front restaurant in allenhurst. waves some higher than 16 feet pounded against it as the storm arrived. as water began leaking through the front walls, the police chief ordered us to evacuate. minutes after we left powerful waves slammed into the building and taking down the front section of the restaurant. now residents here in allenhurst are just beginning to come back to their homes. that your homes, though do not have power.

and officials here say it could be days perhaps weeks, before it is restored. >> let's go south to atlantic city and check in again with jeff glor. >> good morning. staggering 14 inches of rain has fallen here in atlantic city since sunday. at one point we were told more than 80% of the city was under water. much of it had receded. rescues took place into the night. we watched as those rescues took place. governor chris christie continues ripping the mayor saying he did not do enough to ensure residents got out. across the northeast, more than 7 million people remain without power. as you know the flood threat will remain for days but here in atlantic city at least the skies have changed markedly in just the past hour or so. the worst of sandy appears to be over. >> thank you, jeff glor.

some of sandy's victims are dealing with blizzard conditions. we will go back to west virginia where several feet of snow is falling we're starting to see heavier rain bands. another heavier rain band down to our east. watch out for that. cold today, highs only in the mid-40s.

more snow falling in appalachia mountains this morning thanks to sandy. power lines are falling, too. let's go back to anna werner in elkins, west virginia. anna? >> reporter: we have about maybe six or more inches on the ground here where we are in town in elkins. one to three feet estimated at the higher elevations this morning. and the consequence of all of that wet, heavy snow falling is power outages. it is weighing down power lines, weighing down trees. and now an estimated 150,000 people in west virginia have no power and the snow continues to

fall. overnight plows tried to keep up with the we heavy snow and high winds. it was already too late for medical deliveryman gary adkins. his car flipped on a road slippery with snow. >> this was a truck stopped that got sideway in front of me. and -- when i went to slow down my truck went sideways and there was no stopping. >> that was. >> it that was it. over in a second. >> reporter: one traffic accident's fatality blamed on the storm as blizzard conditions swept in monday evening. it only got worse overnight with predictions of six or more inches in towns like elkins. one to three feet at the highest elevation. snowshoe ski resort expects two feet of snow. power outages followed the snow as trees and power lines snapped. >> with the heavy snowfall you can anticipate some downed trees and when that happens you just can't go out effectively remove

snow. >> the storm is coating parts of seven states in an early winter blanket from north carolina up through western pennsylvania. west virginia governor earl ray tomlin urged people to be prepared for days without electricity or supplies. >> also encourage people to get supplies, food water, batteries, candles, and so forth. enough to do for a couple of days. don't want anyone to panic. at the same time you should be prepared as the storm moves through the state. >> reporter: to give you an idea in the afternoon yesterday this was completely clear. now maybe you are up above ankle depth here in snow. this is what road crews are having to try to keep up with. overnight they had to close down a highway north of here because they just can't clear this much snow quickly enough. police actually had to evacuate stuck travelers off the road and scrambled to find a shelter for

them to go to. back to you. >> incredible pictures ask reporting. thank you. saenld's impact stretches for more than 1,000 miles from tennessee to new england. seth jones is in newport, rhode island. good morning. >> reporter: people were up here early in downtown new important rhode island taking a look at the damage. trying to get the first peek. we found some folks weren't willing to wait for daylight. water receded just enough for stephen to get his first look at the shoe store he has owned here for four years. >> he figure at one point -- >> there it is. >> water came up here. >> reporter: about a foot and a half of water had flooded inside. >> i have never seen what we had today. >> reporter: earlier last night, he snapped this photo of his store.

yellow building surrounded by floodwaters. >> keep it get to the building. that was the frustrating part. now that i'm here i know what i have to deal with. >> reporter: as the hurricane blew ashore in newport, we found jim worrying about house livelihood at the state pier. >> losing money every day we are at the dock. you know it hurts. >> reporter: he doubled the number of lines he used to tie down his boat. after all, if anything happened, he would be out of business. >> there's a ripple effect to their customers. my crew. everybody dependsous. fuel guy. bait guy that we buy bait from. it hurts everybody. >> everything. >> reporter: back at stephen's coin shop he discovers that most of his merchandise was safe up on the second floor. but just in case he decided to put the sandbags back out front. we have seen stephen here move stand bags, again, this morning. i asked him when he hopes to

open. he said he hoped to open up for business later today. liked at him quizzically. he said look i'm a small business. i can't afford to stay closed. while we have been here this morning, people have been opening their shops. martha came to open her chocolate shop behind me to find water inside. boxes that revealed about a foot of water had been inside. certainly tough morning for many people coming back to their businesses here. >> all right. thank you. here in new york there was a terrible fire overnight in one sea cried neighborhood evacuated because of the storm. >> reporter: right now we are in breezy p point queens. you can see the destruction that this storm has left. take a look at all these homes here. they looked like they were brought up and then brought back down. residents here are checking on their homes and checking on their families. evacuated. but many residents chose to stay. also, just a few blocks from

here firefighters have been battling a six-alarm fire. 200 firefighters trying to put out fires at 50 homes. right now ten homes are still burning. thankfully we are hearing no injuries reported dreported. firefighters have been working since 11:00 last night. the flooding made it difficult to get to the blaze and also there has been issues with water. are they are trying to find water sources and they have been working through the storm and also through the aftermath. again, just one more look here. breezy point queens total destruction. tons of homes, damaged cars moved by the flood waters and people now returning to their homes trying to check out the damage. many leaving in tears. that's the story from here in breezy point. back to you in the studio. >> incredible national guard to go help many people there because water and then that fire that took out maybe -- you know 50 homes. just incredible.

>> i know. it seems just when you think it can't get worse, then there is a fire on top of all of this. very very sad. sandy has been overwhelming in many ways around the country. for one thing, it is taking a psychic toll on people. what does that mean? dr. john lapook will help us cope with the pier and anxiety.

live shot from new york city where the crane snapped yesterday during the storm. so far still holding. people watching that closely

today. superstorm sandy panic ad lot of people. dr. john lapook is back to show us why that happened and what to do about that. i have been hearing from people around the country who are safe and sound but -- glued to their tvs and say that they ju feel overwhelmed with sadness and anxious watching what other people going through. >> you know with the modern day technology we know about the events four, five days in advance and a lot of time to have anxiety. we kick into emergency mode. that's a good thing. evolution. saber tooth tiger there. adrenaline level goes up. we go exit stage left. we make it or we are killed. that whole event takes minutes. this is taking days. we just get revved up. in addition to that for some people that already have post true mat yuck stress from katrina, 9/11, this brings it back some is driven by the media but also politicians that want people to be fearful so they get out of the way and save lives.

>> of course. you know you don't want to underpredict and you don't want to overpredict. so they are trying to get that just right. >> what can you do? >> you should watch a show like this where the attitude is measured and nothing is hyped. but when you hear somebody talking like this, there is a storm, doesn't matter what they say. if they are talking like this your adrenaline is up. i saw on the upper west side, there were people coming out of a meat store carrying what looked like half a cow. it is like a mob mentality. i think probably like -- box of cereal and a quart of milk will get you through a couple of day. >> right. >> live on the upper west side. i was many cancerying meat but one of the people that went to the store. why am i here? >> because everybody else is here. there are lines. there is a line. >> i better go get something. what do we do to feel better whether you are directly affected by it or those who are just watching and just feel such sadness looking at what others are going through? >> well there's three things that contribute to panic.

you know one being threatened physically. one is feeling trapped. i have a friend who said you know, as soon as they said the bridges are closed, just have this feeling -- >> look at this. >> a medicine to calm down. last thing is to get through the information. if you have bad information that makes you more panicked. it is very important to also figure out for yourself how often should you be watching. probably not all day long. >> how is anxiety dangerous to your health? what does it do in terms of your body? >> your pulse goes up. it can be dangerous. during the scud missile attacks against israel a couple of years ago there was an increase in the number of heart attacks. pulse rate up, adrenaline. it can narrow the arteries. >> do you think we should be informed but not be obsessive about it? i just watched the tv nonstop yesterday. >> you know you shun be doing it but you do it. it is hard to stop it. i think the kind of response we have seen in new york city mayor bloomberg, has done a very

good job getting out there and giving good information. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> for more of his reporting on the evacuation of new york university medical center you can go to our website. cbsnews.com. thank you again. that does it for us. i should say that we are here in the comfort of the studio and a lot of people out reporting this in the rain and in the storm, the wind. storm coverage continues throughout the day and tonight on "cbs evening "news." we leave you with one last look at the sights and sounds of sandy. see you tomorrow. >> you hoped it wasn't going to be this bad. >> much of the east coast waking up to see the full devastation of superstorm sandy. >> we knew this was going to be a very dangerous storm. the storm met our expectations. >> con ed says this is the single largest storm related outage in history. >> new york university medical

center had to evacuate. >> when i got there it was an extraordinary scene and the stakes could not have been higher. >> sandy caused major damage along the entire new jersey coast. >> half a day later, it is still not over yet. >> we are in the midst of rescuing hundreds of people. i think it is safe to say new jersey took it in the neck worse than any other state. >> hurricane force winds pounded ocean city maryland. they said all along their biggest worry by far is flooding. >> this is what you get on the flip side of hurricane sandy. the snow. it hasn't stopped all night. >> the storm has caused the cancellation of 14,000 flights across the country. >> do we know how this storm may affect voting? >> this is a frantic time for both campaigns. a pause is something then want to get over with fast. >> hopefully your thoughts and prayers will join with mine as you think about the folks in harm's way. >> great thing about america is when we go through tough

they've tape tore showers over the next few hours. mid-40s. southwest winds 20 to 30. can still gust 35. isolated gust of 40. i've seeing some pictures with 18 inches on the ground in spots. we're going to get over 2 feet in a few areas. we've been seeing these areas of moderate to heavy rain showers we'll see them in montgomery and another band setting up here in prince georgia county. headed down into charles county it is a chilly morning out there with. all the the river

crossings are incident free. no meter enforcement today and let's go to virginia, no hov restrictions in place and no delays here on 95. back to you. >> doesn't look bad but please don't go out. and you know, first responders and power crews are trying to get the power back in many areas for your neighbors. 46 today. showers later on. tonight 42. 56 with isolated shower tomorrow. we'll see you at can.